On the shoulders and hump the bair is longer than on the other portions, being 112 inches in length, more wavy, and already arranges itself in the tufts, or small bunches, so characteristic in the adult animal. On the extremity of the muzzle, including the chin, the hair is very short, straight, and as light in color as the lower portions of the leg. Starting on the top of the nose, an inch behind the nostrils, and forming a division between the light yellowish muzzle and the more reddish hair on the remainder of the bead, there is an irregular band of dark, straight bair, which extends down past the corner of the mouth to a point just back of the chin, where it unites. From the chin backward the dark band increases in breadth and intensity, and continues back half way to the angle of the jaw. At that point begins a sort of under mane of wary, dark-brown hair, nearly 3 inches long, and extends back along the median line of the throat to a point between the fore legs, where it abruptly terminates. From the back of the bead another streak of dark hair extends backward along the top of the neck, orer the hump, and down to the lumbar region, where it fades out entirely. These two dark bands are in sharp contrast to the light sandy bair adjoining.
The tail is densely haired. The tuft on the end is quite luxuriant, and shows a center of darker hair. The hair on the inside of the ear is dark, but that on the outside is sandy.
The naked portion of the nose is light Vandyke-brown, with a pinkish tinge, and the edge of the eyelid the same. The iris is dark brown. The horn at three months is about 1 inch in length, and is a mere little black stub. In the male, the hump is clearly defined, but by no means so high in proportion as in the adult animal. The hump of the calf from which this description is drawn is of about the same relative angle and height as that of an adult cow buffalo. The specimen itself is well represented in the accompanying plate.
The measurements of this specimen in the flesh were as follows:
Bison Americants. (Male; four months old.)
(No. 15503, National Museum collection.)
| Feet. | Inches. | ||
| Height at shoulders | 2 | 8 | |
| Length, head and body to insertion of tail | 3 | 10 | 14 |
| Depth of chest. | 1 | 4 | |
| Depth of flank | 10 | ||
| Girth behind fore leg. | 3 | 12 | |
| From base of horns around end of nose. | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| Length of tail vertebræ | 7 |
The calves begin to shed their coat of red hair about the beginning of August. The first signs of the change, however, appear about a month earlier than that, in the darkening of the mane under the throat, and also on the top of the neck.[1]
- ↑ Our captive had, in some way, bruised the skin on his forehead, and in June all the hair came off the top of his head, leaving it quite bald. We kept the skin sell greased with porpoise oil, and by the middle of July a fine coat of black hair had growa out all over the surface that had previously been bare.
